One video, posted on the SUREnglish website , showed a figure, who local media said may have been Romero Taboada, falling into the water.

Eleven others were treated for injuries, including a female police officer with a fractured hand.

Twenty-four people were taken into custody, all members of radical fan groups from Deportivo and Atletico, as well as Madrid-based clubs Rayo Vallecano and Alcorcon, and 100 troublemakers had been identified, police said on their Twitter feed (@policia).

Tragedy: The fan (circled) can be seen on the edge of the bridge as he is surrounded (Image: Reuters)

They named the groups, who are known to organise fights among themselves before matches, as Riazor Blues (Deportivo), Frente Atletico, Bukaneros (Rayo) and Alkor Hooligans (Alcorcon).

Atletico, Deportivo, Spain's professional soccer league (LFP) and the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) and government officials united in condemning the violence.

The LFP said it had wanted to suspend the game, which champions Atletico won 2-0, but they were unable to contact anyone from the RFEF in time.

Game: The incident took place before a game between Atletico Madrid and RC Deportivo La Coruna (Image: Denis Doyle)

Speaking on Spanish radio station Cadena Ser later on Sunday, RFEF secretary general Jorge Perez said he had been travelling and missed calls from the head of the federation's referees commission and LFP president Javier Tebas.

"But of course the stadium was already full," Perez said.

"In that sense, suspending a match two or three minutes before the start can be counterproductive.

"We have to resolve this lack of coordination among ourselves. We need to get to work straight away so that something like what happened today does not happen again."

Spain's government anti-violence commission is due to meet on Monday to discuss Sunday's events.

"I want to say that this has nothing to do with football," Atletico president Enrique Cerezo told Spanish television before the fan's death was announced.

"These are radical groups who meet up and these are the consequences," Cerezo added.

Deportivo president Tino Fernandez said clubs needed to do more to make sure such incidents were not allowed to happen.